Our local rivals Dundee FC have had a rollercoaster of a week….
(Written by ShedRule)
…with most of the Marr’s businesses going into liquidation and then the humiliating 4-1 defeat by Clyde at Dens Park on Saturday.
Although, they have at least had some good news today, with the announcement that council tax will not be going up again – the rates for Dens Park must be quite high already.
Not that Dundee United haven’t had their own financial worries this season, because during the January transfer window Craig Levein ran out of money to bring in new players.
After signing Morgaro Gomis, Sean Dillon, Jon Daly and getting Darren Dods on a free contract, chairman Eddie Thompson had to raid the bank account to get the manager extra resources incase he wanted to make more signings.
Che Bunce was going to join the club, until Coventry stole him away on the final day of the transfer deadline by giving him 3x the wages that United were offering.
Not that signing a 31-year-old nobody from New Zealand is exactly what Dundee United supporters were expecting, but at least it would have been better than having to rely on David McCracken.
McCracken has been told he’s leaving in the summer and has been playing well in recent weeks, because he’s hoping to catch the attention of a new club – but once he has agreed terms, or signed a pre-contractual agreement, he will have no reason to perform week in. week out.
At least Dundee United wont have to pay out the remainder of his contract, like we probably had to do with Alan Archibald.
In the last few years, United supporters have been robbed from seeing fresh faces in the squad, because the club have to use the entire transfer budget paying off the wasters that have been sent packing from Tannadice.
Derek McInnes and Grant Brebner were clearly just playing for the money nearer the end of their United careers, but I still wonder if releasing Jim McIntyre was the right move.
We are struggling to score at the moment, because we don’t have someone upfront who is getting into the right positions to benefit from all the supply from Barry Robson, Craig Conway, Steven Robb and the like.
Jim McIntyre would at least be challenging for the ball in the air and putting pressure on the opposition defence – I never heard anyone questioning his level of effort when he was at the club, so getting rid of a talented goalscorer must have been purely for financial reasons.
I am probably one of the many supporters who would like to have seen Charlie Miller back at Tannadice, but if I’m being honest with myself, I doubt we would be able to have afforded him.
I vaguely remember a late comeback against Aberdeen at Tannadice a few years ago, when Charlie Miller came on as a substitute and turned the match.
I believe we were 1-0 down at the time and Miller came on and set on up, before scoring to give us a 2-1 win.
Those 15 or 20 minutes that Miller was on the field, reportedly cost the club around £6,000 in appearance and scoring bonuses – which is clearly far too much for a club with a limited budget like United.
In the past, United were using TV revenue to keep the season ticket prices low, but with not much television money coming in anymore, the season ticket prices are skyrocketing and the £25 fee for some matches is beyond many supporters means.
Dundee United need to get more supporters into the ground on match days, but why would anyone pay silly money to watch a game that’s being shown on Setanta, specially when its being played on a pitch like that!
Some of the only matches worth seeing at Tannadice at the moment are against Aberdeen, Rangers, Hearts and Celtic, but these are the ones that get shown by Setanta – perhaps United should only agreeing to the cameras turning up, if all tickets for the match are sold to being with?
If every cloud has a silver lining, then Dundee United’s financial problems are insignificant to the problems of bottom of the SPL side Dunfermline and local rivals Dundee.
£7million in debt, some of their main advertisers and share holders going bankrupt, falling attendances, out of the Scottish cup to Queen of the South and still stuck in the Scottish 1st division!
I almost feel pity for Dundee supporters…but not quite!
